Culture and its Role in Creative Writing by Fomutar Stanislaus, Cameroon

Posted May 3, 2020

Introduction

Many people have the belief that creativity is something magical; something mysterious that simply happens out of nothing. This may be true as well as it may be false. But what is creativity? What does it mean to create? The meaning of the verb “to create”, like many other words, has evolved over time. Primarily, the word: “create,” from its Latin origin: “Creatio,” coined during the Christian medieval period, underlined the fact of a divine agency bringing into existence different beings out of nothing, that is, “creatio ex nihilo.”

Prior to the medieval period, the idea of things coming into existence out of nothing was inconceivable. Plato for instance, in his work: Timaeus, a book in which he accounts for the origin of the world, talks of the divine craftsman or demiurge as having created all that we find in the world out of pre-existing matter. What this means is that, the divine craftsman brings unique beings into existence simply by giving form to already existing chaotic material.

However, with the change of paradigm in the medieval period, where God is conceived of as someone who creates out of nothing, a number of questions come up. In more precise terms, because human beings are conceived of as participating in the divine nature, the question of human creativity comes up. Do humans also create out of nothing? Can anything human be understood out of its social context? In the work entitled; The Impact of Culture on Creativity (2009), prepared for the European Commission by the directorate-general for education and culture, we learn that: “Culture is the general expression of humanity, the expression of its creativity.” In this discourse, we are faced with the problem of the relationship between human creativity and human culture. In other words, and since we are dealing with the question of the part culture plays in the process of creative writing, we have the task of exploring what culture offers to creative writing. To attain this objective, we will start with the definition of keywords. Perhaps, by defining what we call culture and creative writing, we would be able to understand the possible contributions culture offers to the creative process in creative writing.

Definitions

What is creative writing?

What is it that makes a piece of writing creative?

In general terms, Creative writing is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to renew old reality in captivating narratives, to find hidden patterns and grow them, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to seek clarifications; all these with the overall intent of stirring emotions and feelings. As such, creative writing is defined as “a form of artistic expression, which draws on the imagination to convey meaning through the use of imagery, narrative and drama.” Moreover, creative writing as an umbrella term covers a wide range of writings: poetry, novels, short stories, drama, screenplays, and creative non-fiction etc. creative writing therefore is writing that expresses events and emotions in an imaginative way in view of arousing feelings, whatever. When creative writing is done out of imaginative narration it is considered as fiction. On the other hand, when it is based on facts, it is called creative non- fiction. Peculiar to the idea of creativity is the concept of originality which marks uniqueness.

Culture

What is culture?

The word “Culture” as used today comes from the work of an ancient Roman orator, Cicero, titled Tusculanae Disputationes where he uses an agricultural metaphor to depict it as a cultivation of the soul, that is, cultura animi. This suggests the idea of building up something, keeping it, and working on it all the time for the good or wellbeing of the human person. Today the word culture is wider and clearer in meaning and usage than it was before. Simon Blackburn defines it as “the way of life of a people, including their attitudes, values, beliefs, arts, sciences, modes of perception and habits of thought and activity.” Individuals and society as a whole build (cultivate) on this culture. Culture is the continues cultivation of the way of life of a people in as much as it is learnt, dynamic and changes with time. It is an essential part of the human society as it permits humans to overcome their original animal nature to a more human nature. The question that remains is: what part does the way of life of a people play in the process of imaginative narrations?

The Part Culture Plays in the Creative Process

The first thing we have to take note of is the fact, that creativity surpasses individual talent and capacity. The creative process is much more than individual work. It is influenced by the environment where one lives, because the being of man, is at least, to a greater extent, the being of the world. Humanity dwells in space and time, and whatever we do, the world is always in a way, involved. According to Thomas Wolber in his piece: “Three Pathways by which Culture can Influence Creativity,” culture is capable of influencing our cognitive abilities, and the entire creative process.

Culture plays the role of the raw material, or motivation or inspiration for creative writing. Because creativity does not happen in a vacuum, culture helps contextualize our thoughts and creative energies. Setting is always cultural and it makes a creative work realistic. Without culture, creative works will remain vague contents without form. In fact, it is difficult to conceive of content without the container. It is at some point the container (culture); the form, that determines the extent of the content or matter. With the use of cultural forms like language, dance, symbols etc, creative works find a place among us; the word takes flesh and dwells among us.

The socio-psychologist, Dr. Vlad identifies three paradigms which portray improvement in the understanding of creative works as taking place in a social context. The paradigms show how the understanding of creativity has shifted from it being conceived of as an individual work, to it being understood as emanating from a social context.

He calls the first paradigm “The He Paradigm.” Here, a creative is viewed as a genius of tremendous talent and soaring abilities. With this paradigm, creativity is not for the ordinary. Perhaps it comes through dreams and revelation to special people who create without effort. Such creators are almost gods. They are even thought of as creating without support or culture. They can do everything on their own. However, Vlad notes that at some point, there was a shift from this paradigm to a second: “The I Paradigm.” The “I” paradigm comes in with simply an understanding of the fact that every individual has the capacity to create. The above two paradigms do not, in actual fact, show how the social context (culture) assist in the creative process.

The last paradigm is what Vlad calls the “we” paradigm, and this is the most important for our discussion. The “we” paradigm insist on the fact that no one can create a work completely alone. Even when writers build ideas in solitude, they rely on a network of cooperation: the society. Even when writers write in complete solitude, often, they write to address a person, a group of persons or something in the society, such that, even in solitude creation goes on in the form of an internal dialogue between the writer and an “Other” whom the writer is addressing. Today, we are gradually moving away from the understanding of a writer as an isolated individual, to understanding a writer as a social agent. In this context, a writer is simply a leader: an organizer of thought and a presenter of ideas collectively constructed in a social context.

Examples

Let us take for example the works of Chinua Achebe. When Chinua Achebe talks about the “Chi”, the artistry of Ezeulu, the “obi,” “isa-ifi” ceremony, “egwugwu,” “iba,” “ekwe,” “ozo”, the mud-wall architecture, the goatskin, etc., he is talking of things every keen Ibo man knows. As a creative, he simply succeeds to impose an enticing form on the raw Ibo culture, and his style makes him unique. He is not the creator of the Ibo culture which he expresses with overwhelming mastery. He simply organizes the Ibo cultural practices under different brands: the aspects that are good and those that require improvement; the intruder Christian faith and the dangers it poses to the Ibo culture and community spirit. This, in no way, is a suppression of the individuality of Achebe as a writer. Neither is it an attempt to get him missing in the crowd. A writer is an architect of thought, and every architect works with a team. The erection of any edifice is the result of so many hands put together. We cannot afford to forget about the potters who mix sand and cement and assist the builders. We cannot forget the network of other workers in the background, who remain invisible. There is always a congregation of midwives who surround a creative and assist in the putting to birth of an idea or work of art. All these external factors always have a cultural mark, and a social colour. According to Onyekachi Awa (2018)

African literature is a manifestation of African society, culture, historical and political experience. African literary artists therefore aim at among others, projecting their culture to the world. This is a feat that Achebe and his contemporaries have accomplished with admiration. Thus, an African artist functions in the African society as the recorder of the mores and experience of his people, society and the voice of vision of his time.

Creative writing expresses the spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual aspirations of a people. It is a critical reflection on the life of man in the society (culture). Onyekachi posits that “Achebe expresses the essence of the Igbo culture through language. This attests to the irrefutability of the bond between language and literature. In confirming this opinion, Brain (1993:47) opines that “literature is a manifestation of people’s culture and cannot be filtered out or separated from language.” She goes ahead to show how Achebe identifies and treats the basic items of Ibo culture in his work. One example

is observed in chapter ten of Things Fall Apart, where the village holds a ceremonial gathering to administer justice. The village ancestral spirits, known as egwugwu are presented with the case of Uzowulu, who reports that his in-laws took his wife Mgbafor and therefore, request the return of her bride price to him. Odukwe , Mgbafor’s brother clarifies that his family took Mgbafor to rescue her from daily brutal beatings by Uzowulu, her husband. He maintains that his sister will return to her husband only if he swears never to beat her again. The egwugwu consult and their leader, the Evil Forest, gave a verdict, that Uzowulu takes wine to his in-laws and begs his wife to come back home. He reminds Uzowulu that “fighting a woman is not bravery.

Culture then, as earlier mentioned, provides the raw data: the vague material in chaotic form for creativity. A writer can either choose to impose the form of a novel, drama, poetry etc on the raw data, to bring to birth an artistic creation. That is why Vlad prefers to move from the “we” paradigm, to embrace the paradigm of distributed creativity. This means that the mind of each individual writer extends to the world, and does not work in isolation. As such, there is a thin difference between the individual and her cultural context.

One other author we could take as example to show how culture lies at the basis of creativity is Shakespeare. Ioanna-Soultana Kotsori and Kyriakos Manolis note that:

Shakespeare’s influence came from the classical and the Roman world, especially from the theatrical tradition. It was also influenced by the Latin writers and borrowed a lot of them. Shakespeare’s works relate to Roman history and are associated with the Latin poets, but also with the Greek historians and Socratic philosophers. The Roman elements govern the work of Shakespeare. Indeed, blood and violence are typical of Roman works, as is the struggle of clans and citizens of ancient Rome. In Shakespeare’s era, the palace intrigue was not lacking, while the theatre was popular as a political manipulation of the masses.

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Shakespeare studied Roman and Greek histories. He studied their myths and cultures and employed the knowledge of his wide learning to build a befitting creative edifice. Ioanna-Soultana Kotsori and Kyriakos Manolis make further clarification on how Shakespeare got the inspiration to earn a name for himself:

In the work of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare borrows tragic love stories from antiquity, one of which is the love story of Pyramos and Thisbe. This myth derives from Greek mythology. This myth then evolved by the Romans and appeared in Ovidius (Metamorphoseis, 4, 55-166). The common point of this myth with Shakespeare’s work is the final tragic ending of Piramus and Thisbe, likewise in Romeo and Juliet.

We can see that most of those we perceive as legends did not write much outside of their cultures of origin. In general, every human being is a creative. We have everything we need to become great writers, heroes and heroines. As Michelangelo would put it: “I don’t make a stutus; I chip away the stone until the form inside emerges.” Our lives are full of beauty, yet to be unveiled, and depth yet to be unconcealed. Hampton Wright says: “I don’t make up characters; I discover them and then listen to their stories.” In her words; “your true beliefs will edit your creativity without your notice. Your concepts of the world will determine what material you even recognize as material for creative work.” We can then see how looking back to our own histories and cultures can help us do what Shakespeare and Achebe did. Indeed, a person who is naïve and ignorant of their culture and history will not have where to step their feet in this world. They may end up floating in the air without ceasing, and no one may ever know they existed.

To properly understand a work of art, we need to know where it is coming from. Take a creative work of art out of its original context, and it may never be clearly understood. This is because culture plays a frontline role in the process of artistic creation. If we were God, we could create out of nothing. But we are human, and create out of culture and personal experiences: experiences of happenings around us, happenings that are basically expressions or manifestations of culture. Who then is man without culture?

In conclusion, we can say that culture plays a formative role in our lives and throughout our creative processes. Being attentive to our cultural practices and histories can play a great role in helping us as writers. Such mastery enables us do justice to our cognitive potentials.